Taking Their Party Back: Conservatives Turn to N.Y., N.J., Va., Then Florida

The great weekend news that RINO Dede Scozzafava quit the race in New York’s 23rd congressional special election, making way for conservative Doug Hoffman to win the race. It was followed by the Republican National Committee announcing their support for Hoffman.

So-called journalists are already warning this may not bode well for Republicans in the mid-term elections. The fact is, nothing could be better for Republicans in the coming mid-term election.

This is a big message to the Republican Party establishment. You can’t just call yourself a Republican and make it through. You have to espouse conservative values and follow through on them. The Party is a big tent for all kinds of conservatives, and that is how we will find our way in 2010. NY-23 may be a new beginning for conservatives who campaign on conservative values. Even if Doug Hoffman doesn’t win, this race lays the groundwork for several other races around the country.

On Monday, I participated in the Atlanta Tea Party Patriot’s rally at the State Capitol in Georgia. It’s a countdown to 2010 as November 2 is exactly one year until the 2010 Midterm elections. People are still fired up: it still seems like August out there.

The Tea Party folks are conservative and while some are disgruntled Republicans, many are looking for a party affiliation. The media and pollsters assume undecided or unaffiliated voters are moderate in their views. That is not the case in 2009 in America.

Moderates and liberals voted for President Obama. Consistently, the percentage of people in America who identify themselves as liberals stays in the low to mid-twenties. The numbers of conservative voters have increased while those that identify themselves as Republicans have decreased. NY-23 and this year’s governor’s races may be the help Republicans need to find their voice again.

My focus is on Florida. I was outraged when the National Senatorial Republican Committee endorsed Florida Governor Charlie Crist as their man in 2010. Crist appointed a “placeholder” for himself — his pal George LeMieux — when Sen. Mel Martinez stepped down. This is a travesty in itself. The U.S. Senate should not be a place for “placeholders” for the next guy in line. It’s politics at the worst level and in these times we need statesmen, not politicians calculating every move for their own benefit.

The NRSC doesn’t even acknowledge former Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, but they will have to soon. Rubio is going to win this nomination because he has the facts in his favor. Crist has been every kind of Republican, which means no kind at all. Crist stood on the stage with President Obama in February in support of the stimulus package and now he says he’s a fiscal conservative and tried to have the press believe he didn’t even know President Obama was in his state last week. Sorry Charlie, it won’t work this time. He’s a not a conservative and no one outside of the Republican establishment is falling for his chameleon-like changes of color.

But Marco Rubio needs your help. I talked to him last week and asked him he was going to harness the Tea Party Patriots enthusiasm to catapult him to the Republican nomination in Florida. “I am going to treat them with respect,” Rubio said, “This is a legitimate movement that is not just made up of Republicans. These are people who are conservatives of every kind who are fed up with the government wasting their money and they deserve respect.”

One of the catch phrases of my radio program is “it starts with your vote, it doesn’t end there.” The work goes on. Now conservatives have to get out and vote for Doug Hoffman. In New Jersey and in Virginia, conservatives have to get out and vote for Chris Christie in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell in Virginia. New Jersey is in a dead heat because of the strength of a third-party candidate, but Christie can win because while New Jersey is a liberal state, it is also a working class state that is hurting more under President Obama. They need a conservative in their state house. Bob McDonnell should win easily, but people have to get out and vote.

Once we get through the wins on Tuesday for conservatives, and I believe it will be overwhelming, we should turn our attention to Florida. “Charlie Crist has a history of changing his views based on how the wind blows, we don’t need that kind of leadership in Florida,” Rubio said. Floridians need to send a message to Charlie Crist saying, “We don’t want a place holder, we want a leader.” Marco Rubio is the true conservative with a proven, consistent track record of leadership. The RSCC should withdraw its support of Gov. Charlie Crist and back Marco Rubio, and don’t wait until after the primary to do it.

Conservatives and real Republicans take heart. The people don’t want Republican and Republican-lite and they don’t want Democrat and Democrat-lite. Given a choice between a conservative who believes in American exceptionalism and someone else who wants to make everything relative, they will take the conservative almost every time.

On this the anniversary week of Ronald Reagan’s “Rendezvous with Destiny” speech in 1964, the principles of Ronald Reagan are not dead; they must be implemented to win. Conservatives want their party back and are willing to fight for it. Are you ready to fight?